Paper Authors

Waddah Akili
Iowa State University

Waddah Akili has been in the academic arena for over 35 years. He has held academic positions at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Penna (66-69), at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (69-87), and at The University of Qatar, Doha, Qatar (87-00). Professor Akili’s major field is geotechnical engineering and materials. His research work & experience include: characterization of arid and semi arid soils, piled foundation, pavement design & materials, and concrete durability. His interests also include: contemporary issues of engineering education in general, and those of the Middle East and the Arab Gulf States, in particular

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Teaching civil engineering design through senior projects or capstone design courses, with
industry involvement and support, has increased in recent years. The general trend toward
increasing the design component in engineering curricula is part of an effort to better prepare
graduates for engineering practice. While some design projects are still of the “made up” type
carried out by individual students, the vast majority of projects today deal with “real-world
problems” and are usually conducted by student teams. The paper begins first by briefly
reviewing the design as a “thought” process, focusing on several dimensions of “design
thinking” and how “design thinking” skills are acquired. Second, the paper reports on the
development, implementation, and subsequent evaluation of a senior design course at an
international university, where practitioners have played a major role in planning and teaching
the capstone course. The new, restructured design course, co-taught by practitioners from the
Region, has met its declared objectives and exposed students to professional practice. This
industry-driven experience has also provided information with regard to curricular content and
capabilities of departmental graduates. In a way, the capstone experience reported on in this
paper, serves as a microcosm of the four year program. Experiences and outputs from the course
can be used to provide guidance and insights into curricular changes, teaching methods, and
exposure to civil engineering practice in the Region; and helps in establishing enduring
connections with the industrial sector.

Introduction

Design is widely considered to be the central and the most distinguishing activity of civil
engineering. It has also long been understood that engineering institutions should graduate
engineers who could design effectively to meet societal needs. Historically, engineering curricula
have been based largely on an “engineering science” model, referred to as the “Grinter Model”,
in which engineering is taught only after a solid basis in science and mathematics(1) .The
resulting engineering graduates were perceived by industry and academia, at the time, as being
“ill-prepared” for the practice. Despite steps taken to remedy the situation, through greater
industry-academia collaboration; both design faculty and design practitioners argue that further
improvements are necessary. Design faculty across the country and across a range of educational
institutions still feel that the leaders of engineering schools( deans, department heads, tenured